Shadow Of A Doubt
by Rochwen-loves-Dutchy
Summary: The Shadow is the greatest spy to walk to streets of New York. But her trained mind tells her to look deeper into something she should just trust to be true. Will it destroy the best thing that's ever happened to her?
1. I am The Shadow

i read a story similar to this and realized how interesting an issue it could become...im actually quite happy with how its developing

Disclaimer: I don't own Newsies, or Kid Blink.(my birthdays in 4 days though...) I do own Shadow.

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Maybe I think too much. Maybe that's the issue. My mind just makes connections though, you know? I start thinking about one thing and that leads to another, and another, and another. I'm getting ahead of myself though. You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you? Let me start from the beginning...sort of. My name is Camille, but no one's called me that for a good ten years. I'm known as The Shadow, or Shadow if you know me personally. I'm a newsie and a spy in 1900. I sell my papers like a good newsie during the day, inform the city and all. Brookly is undoubtably the best thing that's ever happened to me.Doesn't add up to enough for me though. Maybe that's cause I spend too much on...well, on anything and everything. So I have a night job, if you will. I'm the greatest spy to ever walk the streets of New York. Boys in prep schools hire me to find out about the pretty finishing school girls they have their eyes on. Girls in finishing schools hire me to tell them more about the alluring newsboys they watch from their windows. Newsboys hire me to find out about their enimies, or to bring messages to their finishing school sweet-hearts(the ones that the boys in prep schools have their eyes on. It's a vicious circle). And that's how I can afford to takes days off if news is slow. That's how I afford the mask I wear at night. Most importantly, that's how I afford my collection of dragon sculputures. But that's beside the point, as most of this information is. So why, you ask, is my thinking an issue? I'll tell you. 

I've learned to doubt everything I'm told, to look into everything more. This should be different. It should be so very very different,but it's not. Once again, this makes no sense to you, does it? Alright, I'll start from the beginning again.(Actually, it's a different beginning, but you understand, right?) About two and a half months ago, I got word that a girl named Maria was seeking my services. I dropped onto the fire escape of her room, which was in the highest class finishing school in probably the entire city. She let me in and told a story I'd heard countless times before. Every day, she watched the gates of the World building as the newsboys left.(I usually sold in Brooklyn, or this would have been so much easier.) There was one that she'd always find and watch as he made his way down the street. And every day, she run outside just to buy a paper from him. She was convinced she was completely in love. Issue being, she knew nothing about him. All she could tell me was he wore an eye patch. I took the job. Maria's heart-throb was a member of the Manhattan newsies. It didn't take me long to discover his name was Kid Blink and he was just about Jack's right-hand man.(Jack being the leader of the Manhattan boys.) The rest took a bit of effort. So every evening, I stashed my paper money in a jar in my room and change into my all black disquise, complete with a mask.(Hence the title The Shadow.) I then made my way out of Brooklyn and into Manhattan. I knew Spot always watched me until I was across the bridge. I think he worried about me, still does probably. Anyways, I'd find Kid Blink and follow him, paying close attention to everything. I never wrote anything down. I never needed to, my memory was unbelievable. I learned that he was fun-loving and close to the others. He loved to go with them to Irving Hall and watch Medda, drink, smoke, but more than anything, laugh. It was on one of these nights that I began to doubt myself. I was sitting in a closed balcony, watching the newsies through a hole in the wall when I realized how utterly charming his smile was. And how perfectly natural and naturally perfect it looked. _No, _I thought, _absolutely not. I do not like guys I am told to watch by girls who are in love with them. I doesn't work like that. _I turned away and closed my eyes to refocus. That's when my terribly inconvinient memory kicked in and recognized him. Last year, Spot had brought us to Manhattan for the strike. I saw him during the ralley, just like he looked now, happy and laughing. And I had seen him when the police came. He was trying to help Jack, and he was hit in the face. But it was the day after that I remembered the most. The day Jack came out dressed as a scabber. I saw Kid Blink angry, something I had not seen at all in the week I'd been following him now. And something about that made me stand up and leave the theater. Something about his face made me climb the fire escape at the highest end finishing school in probably the whole city and tap on Maria's window. She was terribly excitied.

"What have you found out?" I hesitated. This was putting my entire career on the line. Was it really worth that much to me? Unfortunately, my mouth worked faster than my brain.(go figure)

"I don't think you're going to like my report."

"Nonesense. Elizabeth, she's the one who told me about you, says you're the best spy anywhere. She said that if I wanted this newsie, you could get me this newsie. My gosh! She said you could get me Spot Conlon if I wanted!" I'm not kidding, that's what she said. I've never been a matchmaker. I tell people things they could find out for themselves if they weren't so lazy. But this, this was different. This chick was shallow.

"First off, I'm no matchmaker, got it?" I admit, my voice was a bit harsher than I meant it to be, but she actually stepped back. "I don't need you to tell me I'm the best out there. I know that. Now you listen to me. I've been trailing this guy for a week. He's not for you, alright?"

"And you know what I like?"

"Tell me this. What is one thing you simply could not put up with a boy doing?" I swear, it didn't even take her a second to answer.

"Smoking. Smoking and drinking. Gentlemen should not do these things, and I refuse to allow a man to call upon me who does such things." I almost laughed. I really did. But she had played right into my hand, I didn't even have to lie.

"Well, you may be dissapointed to know that those two things happen to be things he prefers to do in the evenings while watching the show girls." Her eyes grew wide and I saw her mouth "show girls." If for just a minute she couldn't hear me, I would have died laughing. She expected a _newsie_ that didn't drink _or _smoke? Lower your standards some there chicky.

"Well, thank you for telling me these things." She handed me a dollar after recovering a bit and I was out the window and gone. And that's how this started. This ridiculus obsession and betrayl of trust that I swear will haunt me forever. But for you to completely understand this, I'll have to go back to another beginning.


	2. I am Rather Lovesick

so, this is very fun! i actually don't think this story will exceed 10 or so chapters. which is terribly shocking seeing as i usually cant write a decent ending.(as you probably know if youve read anything else ive written)

Disclaimer: I own Shadow and the idea for her story, that's it.

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Where was I? The beginning, right. Which one? Oh yeah! So, I was rid of Maria, but I hadn't found anouther client yet. Normally if I have time between jobs, I'll hang out with the Brooklyn guys or go shopping, or catch up on sleep. But I didn't. The very next night, I found myself in costume and crouched on a fire escape above Kid Blink and his friends. I banged my head against the railing as quietly as possible. What was I doing? The job was over, why was I still following him? I stopped hitting my head and looked down. The others were continuing down the alley, but Kid Blink stood there, looking around casually. Once they were out of sight, he sat on the stairs of the fire escape and started to whisper to himself. My mind screamed that it was a trap, but my experience and my pride told me I could get close enough to hear him. So I crept down, as carefully and silently as was humanly possible. I was on the landing above him, but I still couldn't hear. This was the only time I hesitated. I reminded myself that I could easily scale the side of the fire escape and get to the top of the building, then I climbed over the railing and lowered myself down as far as I could. I could hear what he was saying now.

"...I'm going to keep talking until you come down here. You're sneaky, but so am I. I know you've been following me..." He was talking to me. He didn't see me, but he was talking to me. It _was_ a trap. He was just trying to lure me down. All of this registered about a half second before he swung around and grabbed my wrist. I tried to climb up, and for a second we were at a stalemate. But he had the obvious advantage, plus gravity was on his side. My hand slipped and I fell. Apparently he hadn't thought this through, because I landed on top of him. Neither of us moved for a second.(if you've been counting, it's been about 10 seconds since I realized this was a trap.) Then I stood and tried to get to the end of the alley, but he grabbed my ankle and I tripped again. "You've been following me."

"I know." I turned around so we could sit facing each other.

"Ok. Why? And who are you?"

"I'm insulted. I thought everyone in New York knew who I was. I'll have to advertise more."

"You're that spy, aren't you? The Shadow." I bowed as best I could from a sitting position.

"At your service. Any other questions?" He started to say something. "Oh no, I remember. 'Why?' Because a client asked me to." It was true. Maria had asked me to follow him. Just because I wasn't under her orders anymore...

"Who?"

"A finishing school girl who 'seeks your face in the crowd of newsboys every morning' and buys a paper from you every day."

"Lots of people buy a paper from me every day."

"She's at the highest end finishing school in probably the entire city and said she 'runs outside just to buy a paper from you.' She's not exactly the brightest, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's run into you a time or two." Another skill I had picked up. Studying people's personalities and determining how they would most likely act. My imagination was rather active, so I ended up with some pretty entertaining scenarios sometimes.

"Oh, her. I always thought she was slightly brain damamged." I laughed, I couldn't agree more.

"Well that's good, she's not interested in you anymore."

"Really? Why not?" He sounded a bit dissapointed.

"Because you smoke and drink and like showgirls. That last one really pushed her over the edge. I wouldn't be surprised if her eyes were still all wide like that, and I told her yesterday." His eyes, rather, eye(only one is visible, remember? The whole eye patch thing?) narrowed and my hand flew to my mouth. There goes my mouth ahead of my brain again.

"So why are you still following me?" Now neither my mouth or my brain was working. I employed the use of the first question I could fully form.

"Why do you wear an eye patch?" I reached out to remove it, but he grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"Why do you wear a mask?" Still holding my right wrist with his left hand, he reached out with his right just like I had. But my brain was busy trying to think of something to say and didn't think to move my left hand at all. He grabbed the corner of my black mask and pulled it back over my head. Alright, I'll admit it, it wasn't actually a mask. It was a strip of black fabric with two holes cut in it. My dark hair just made it look like I had a hood or somehting on, and I think that's what he was expecting. "You _are _a girl."

"I know."

"I've only heard about you in rumors, and I never knew. Race said you were, that he had hired you before, but we didn't really belive him."My brain was still a little behindand only nowtold my left hand to move. I reached up and slowly pulled my mask from his grip, my eyes never leaving his. He had these really beautiful, deep brown eyes(well, I assume he had two of them. Like I said, only one was visible).

"I'm still following you because another person told me to." I spoke very slowly. My left hand was still up, because he hadn't let go of the end of my mask.

"Who?" I tried to speak without success for a few seconds(four, if anyone is still measuring the length of this encounter in seconds), then managed to say it.

"Me."

"You're Shadow, from Brooklyn, aren't you?" I nodded. It was very strange. He was only using one eye, and yet he was keeping me from looking away. I couldn't look away, no matter how much I wanted to(which, admittedly, wasn't very much). No one had ever done that to me, and they all used two eyes. He smiled, just a very small trace of one, but I knew it was definitely a smaller version of the one I'd been watching for the past week. "You're not the only spy."

"What?"

"Whenever I go to Brooklyn, or whenever Spot brings his crew over here, I watch you."

"How often do you go to Brooklyn?"

"As often as I can." _Oh my gosh! He liked me! He went to Brooklyn so he could watch me! _"I know that sounds pretty stalker-like, doesn't it?"

"You're talking to a spy. Trust me, it doesn't freak me out at all." His smile widened, and so did mine. _Good, my brain finally caught up. _My left hand(which was still up in the air, remember) dropped the mask and instead reached back more and closed around his right wrist.

"You missed," he whispered. He slid his hand through my rather loose grip so I was holding his hand instead. Then, the simply unthinkable happened.(Well, it's actually probably not that unthinkable, seeing that as you're reading this, you're prbably guessing what's going to happen. You probably won't predict the twist though.) He leaned forward. His lips were an inch from mine. My eyes were closed and everything when I heard footsteps. I opened me eyes and glanced over Kid Blink's head to see his friends walking toward us(after noting that his eye was open. I don't think he had ever closed it. I guess that's ok though, I can just imagine him missing).

"Hey Kid, you alright?" He let go with his left hand(the one that was still holding my right wrist from when I had triend(half heartedly I might add) the remove his eye patch. Hey, I just put a parenthase inside a parenthase. Am I allowed to do that?) and motioned for them to go away, but his eye never left mine. They didn't go away, but his back was to them, so he didn't know that. His hand moved from above his left shoulder to behind my head and he pulled me forward and kissed me. There were whoops and whistles from the newsies that stood observing this. I realized(mid kiss) that my right hand was free and I held it up, a certain finger extended. They laughed and after another second, Kid Blink sat up and turned around to see what was so funny. I had put my hand back down and to this day, it has remained an inside joke between Racetrack, Mush, and me.

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I actually went through and edited this chapter! isnt that exciting! lemme know what you think of it


	3. I am OK With Showgirls

more story! yay!

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You again? Here for more of my story I assume. You want to know how the summary and the title and all come into play, don't you? Alright then. Where was I? Flipping off Mush and Racetrack in the alley while kissing Kid Blink, that's right.(I just summed up pretty much the entire last chapter there, in case you didn't read it.) So, Blink and I started going out. I visited him every night before setting off on my jobs. Sometimes I was lucky and I was trailing a Manhattan newsie. Then I could hang out with Blink and do my job at the same time, no hiding involved. He never told any of them that when they hired The Shadow, it was me who appeared in their window, and none of them ever figured it out. So I should have trusted Kid Blink, right? Right. You could say I should have trusted him with my life. And that I did. I would have put my life in his hands, I really would have. But one night, something changed. 

We were watching Medda(well, they were watching Medda, I was watching my assignment) in Irving Hall, having a wonderful time. I really do value the time I can spend with the newsies, just hanging out. I know it sounds corny and all, but it is truly irreplaceble time. Anways. Blink was doing just what I'd told Maria he did. Smoking and drinking and watching showgirls. It really didn't bother me, I mean, if there were hot guys up there in frilly dresses dancing around, I'd want to watch(wait...scratch the frilly dresses). I talked with everyone and drank just as much as most of them, but didn't smoke. It pretty well grossed me out(I'd also learned not to kiss Blink right after he'd been smoking either. Not an experience I wish to relive). But we were having a great time. Now, Blink has an unfortunate habit of having one too many drinks and getting into fights with anyone and everyone he can. I would have attempted to stop him, but watching slightly drunk newsies fighting is terribly amusing. On this particular night, the same thing happened. It was a fight just like most of the others, just for fun. Blink and Skittery were pitted against two others I didn't know(but I could've easily found out about them if I'd wanted to). It was going nowhere really, most swings not even connecting with anything. Then, it happened. Skittery was hit and tripped, falling into Blink, who stumbled backwards, trying to regain his balance, but he couldn't. He fell backwards and whacked his head on a table before thumping to the ground. We ran over, calling his name, but he was out cold. Forgetting my assignment, I took charge, ordering Jack, Bumlets, and Dutchy to lift him and head out the door. It was slow process and they switched off quite often, either because they were tired or too drunk to stay upright themselves for long, let alone carry someone. I never stepped in, instead trying to giude them so they didn't scrape Blink's knees or arms against alley walls or let his head hit the doorway as we entered the lodging house.

Kloppman assured us that he would be fine and gave us sone ice for his head. Again, Kid Blink was carefully lifted and carried up the stairs. He was put on an empty bunk near the door. His was above Racetrack, but I wanted him more accesible in case he like died or something(plus, I don't think we could've gotten him all the way up). The others dispersed, but I stayed next to him, carefully placing the ice under his head. Honestly, I would have rather gone and joined Race's poker game, but I was the only one in the room with slightly maternal instincts, so I figured I should stay. And there was that whole girlfriend thing, I guess that's a pretty good reason to stay. I looked down, feeling like one of those typical girls who want nothing more than to become good wives and mothers when they grown up. I would never be one of those girls, but I cared a whole lot about the unconcious boy that was laying in front of me. I brushed some hair out of his face, my fingers brushing over the starp of his eye patch. I stared at his closed eyes, imagining the deep brown color, and let my fingers rest very gently on top of the patch. I sat there for a moment and just studied his face and watched his steady breathing. Then I turned and shouted across the room.

"Hey Mush?"

"Yeah?" He walked over and stood beside me.

"Does he ever take that off? The eye patch?" Mush considered for a second and started to speak a few times, but ended up staring at Blink as well.

"No. Now that you mention it, I've never seen him without it."

"Has he ever told you why he wears it?" He shook his head slowly.

"Nope. But he always had, since the day I met him." And that's how it started. That's when my spy instincts told me I had to find out. That it was my job, that I had the talent to figure it out. But didn't everyone in the room have that talent? All someone had to do was lift the eye patch and look under it. But no one did. He trusted them not to, and they trusted that if it was important, he'd tell. Right? Of course. In the past month or so we'd been together, Kid Blink had told me everything about himself. His past, his regrets, his dreams. And I'd done the same. So why hadn't he told me this? Why hadn't I asked? Did it matter? The simple answer was no. Right? The simple answer was that I should trust that he would tell me if I should know. He was the best thing that had ever happened to me. He had helped me get close to people, to make friends, not just assignments. I know this is a word that should be used very carefully, but I dare say I loved him, even if was in just the most childish sense of a very complex emotion. Sitting there, I clenched a fist and almost had to fight back tears. This was not my job. This was my _life._

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not very long. sorry. ill try to make the next one longer.


	4. I am An Absolute Wreck

mas story! yay!

Disclaimer: IT'S NOT MINE! I KNOW!  
Note: brief appearence by the Brooklyn Gals in this chapter, well as many as I could make work. Be happy!

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Let me say one thing before I continue. Ok, actually a few things. First: I am not one to cry. It takes a lot of frustration, or head-splitting pain.So, when I say I was close tofighting back tears, you know it means something. Second: I'm completely obsessed with details. If one little things isn't quite right, it bugs the hell out of me. That's why this eye patch was so important to me. I trusted Kid Blink and thought he was lying somehow. Now that I've cleared that up, let's move on. 

I was sitting there, staring down at Blink and racking my brain for any memory of him telling me about his eye. Nothing. It had to be close to one in the morning when Jack came over to me.

"Look Shadow, it ain't that we wanna get rid of yeh or anything, but-"

"Yes it is, she's bothering us!" I rolled my eyes at Snipeshooter.

"Ignore him." I already was. "But it's late. We'll take care of Blink, alright? Why don't yeh go back ta Brooklyn and get some sleep?" I nodded and stood. With a small wave, I left. Now I was on the street and the cool night air was just spurring more questions. Did he not trust me? Did he secretly hate me? Was he only going out with me out of pity or something? Was he cheating on me with some dumb ass show girl?(as I said, I have nothing agianst showgirls, they're just not terribly bright) Was he plotting to kill me so that he could run away with her to Italy?(I told you I make strange connection like this, sorry.) What was wrong with me? Why was I doing this? It was just an eye patch! My knees were suddenly weak and I grabbed the railing of the Brooklyn Bridge for support. I was breathing heavily and was on the brink of tears. I looked out over the water and had tohold myself firmly in place to keep from falling. I swear, if you saw me, you'd think he'd dumped me or something just seconds ago.

"Shadow?" I looked up to see Spot arm in arm with one of the girls from down the river. "Are you alright?" He left hisraven haired(I said raven haired because that's waht she was. I had black hair, and it was alright, but she had _raven _hair, and it was shiny and beautiful and all that jazz)friend looking rather confused to stand next to me. I shook my head and he took hold of my elbow, looking rather worried(I don't think it was for the reason you're all assuming though. I'm fairly certain I looked like I was about to be sick all over him at this point, and that's why he was so worried). "Come on, we'll bring you back to the lodging house." Everyone seems to get the idea that Spot is this tough, no-nonesense, womanizing, almost evil guy. Only one of those is true(ok, so he may be slightly evil,but that's not the point). He really is a sweet guy and a great leader. He cares about his newsies and doesn't like to see them in trouble, which is why he was helping me. As for the womanizing bit, I'm not claiming I know all the ins and outs of his personal life(all though, I know most of them from assignments) but when he finds a girl he likes, he belongs to her. He doesn't "shop around" as certain other newsies I know of do. He's a dedicated and caring guy. But don't get me wrong, mess with him and your ass is grass man(I just like that phrase, it's fun). He lead me to a couch in the boarding house and got me a cup of water before heading back out with his chick. After clearing my head by pouring the water over it, I looked around to see my worst fear met. The normal occupants of the Brooklyn lodging house weren't the only ones there. There was a group of girls(known as the "Brooklyn Gals") from down the river who had come to visit. Maybe I could escape before they saw me.

"Look Penny, it's Shadow!" I closed my eyes and stopped my desperate assent of the stairs. Instead I came back down and stood before the copper haired leader of the Brooklyn Gals. She had always wanted me to ditch the guys and come live down the river with them. Instead of her normal speech though, she greeted me quite differently.

"Why is your hair all wet."

"I encountered an angry donkey bearing soggy doughnuts on the way back from Manhattan. It didn't like me, so it threw one at me." Penny raised an eyebrow, but Suep, who was standing next to her, looked like she believed me. I swear, that girl wasn't quite right in the head. "No, actually, I dumped a glass of water over my head so I'd stop thinking about Kid Blink."

"Why on earth would you ever want to stop thinking about him?" Asked a girl with very blonde hair. I think her name was Mustard, or Brunette, I can't remember which. "Aren't you two going out?"

"Yes. But I need to stop thinking about what's under his eye patch." That was it. Everyone who had been listening burst into disscusion and soon the entire room was debating why he wore the eye patch. Dear god, what is wrong with me? I couldn't just keep my mouth shut.

"He's a jewl thief! He had his eye cut out and puts diamonds in the hole to hide them!"

"A spider bit him and his eye grew so big that it popped! I saw it!" That was the thing, for each and every proposition, the person claiming it swore they had seen it.

"He traded it for his dog's life when he was six, I was there!"

"He used to live out West and an Indian shot him straight through the eye! The arrow barely missed his brain! He showed me the scar!"

"He just wears the patch fer pity, yeh know, ta sell more papes."

"He doesn't have an eye! It's a roach anntena! I saw it! He's actually half bug!" That one brought the room to silence. Curly haired Suep was giggling, sitting on the floor. Apparently, that was her guess. I didn't want to hear anyone try to out do that. I threw my hands in the air and ran up stairs before anyone could stop me. I sat on my bed and hugged my knees, staring at the tiny dragon sculptures that sat on my table. Blink had bought two of them for me and made the slightly deformed wooden one himself. My mind was racing. Was he a jewl theif? Bit by a spider? Highly devoted to his dog? A cowboy? A good actor? Part bug? I flopped my face into my pillow. What was I supposed to think? There was a knock on my door and I chucked a shoe at it.

"Go away!"

"Just wanted ta make sure yeh were ok." It was Jo. Until I met Blink, she was probably the only person I would have called a real friend.

"I'm not. My head's about to explode." Jo opened the door and entered. She was average looking, a spy's worst nightmare, she didn't stand out at all. At least her looks didn't. Her personality was one of a kind. Mostly because it changed by the second. She could be messing with you and teasing you one second and a shoulder to cry on the next.

"What's up?"

"Kid Blink! The eyepatch! I don't know why he wears it, and it's driving me crazy! Look, thanks a lot, but I need some time to stage a debate between my feelings and my instincts, alright?" She nodded and left.

I sound like the worst girlfriend on the face of the earth right now, don't I? Don't try to say I don't, I know I do. But see, it's because I trust him and care for him so much that this drove me so crazy. At this point, I was close to pulling my hair out. I spent half an hour just sitting on my bed and screaming into my pillow. I banged my head against the wall for five minutes, and only stopped beacause Spot came in.

"Shadow! What da hell're yeh doin?"

"Trying to knock myself unconcious so I'll stop thinking. It's not working." Spot lead me over to my bed and sat me down. He started to say something, but I cut him off. "I just need to get my mind off of this!" I hugged him around the waist and fought back tears with everything I had. "Why am I doing this?" He sat down next to me.

"Can yeh tell me what yer upset about first?" I nodded and took a few deep breaths.

"Kid Blink, and his eye patch. I don't know why he wears it, and suddenly it's driving me absolutely crazy!"

"Have yeh tried just askin him?" I froze. I was such and IDIOT! What's wrong with me? I never even thought of that. Reassured with the knowledge thatI'd ask Blink tomorrow, I said good night to Spot and drifted into much needed sleep.


	5. I am Falling

i love this story, i really do. and i love all of you that sent me nice reviews.

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So, I'm an idiot. We covered that, right? If not, let me restate it. I'm an idiot. I never thought to just ask Kid Blink aboubout the eye patch. For the record, I have an excuse. He was unconcious when this issue began, so there. 

That morning, I woke up with the rest of the Brooklyn newsies, but I didn't buy papers. I went straight to the Manhattan distribution office(I didn't buy papers there either, just FYI). I pushed my way to the gates that hadn't opened yet, where I knew Jack would be(I know this because I'm a spy and I just know these things). Sure enough, there he was, picking a fight with the Delanceys. I pushed through the crowd and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him away from his fight.

"Where's Blink?" (Just so you know, I had looked for him. I didn't just walk right past him to get to Jack)

"At the lodging house. He's got a killa head ache." I nodded and headed off without another word. Jack shrugged at went back to his fight. I had walked maybe ten feet from the gates when I heard the whooping and saw, out of the corner of my eye, Jack take off, followed by the Delanceys and then the rest of the newsies. Normally, I probably would have followed them, just to watch Jack beat those goons up-again. It just never got old. But today, my mind was set, I would not be distracted. That's what I thought, until I saw a bakery displaying fresh made chocolate in its window. I realized that I really wanted chocolate, went in and bought some. Now, chocolate in hand(or rather, mouth),I couldn't be distracted. I spotted Kid Blink sitting out on the fire escape, head back and eyes closed(once again, I say eyes, but it's only an assumption, you can only see one). I climbed up very quietly and sat down beside him and layed my head carefully against his shoulder. He was asleep and didn't exactly wake up, just muttered my name.

"Yes, it's me," I whispered. Now, this was a terribly romantic moment and could have stayed that way for quite awhile if it wasn't for one thing. I'm me. I looked down at the little bit of chocolate that was still in my hand. Very carefully, I raised it to his lips and dropped it into his slightly open mouth. He chewed it and his nose wrinkled a little at the unexpected taste(it was very cute). He opened his visible eye(I can't speak for the other one) and peered down at me. "Good morning."

"Mornin. You came all the way here from Brooklyn to give me chocolate?"

"No, I just happened to have it."

"Why?"

"Cause I'm a girl. I saw chocolate, I bought it, I ate it, well, most of it." He raised his eye brows and nodded. "How's your head feel?" He reached up and rubbed the back of his head where I had no doubt there was a bruise.

"Like it would fall apart if I took my hat off."

"Poor baby." I wrapped an arm around his waist and he layed one over my shoulders.

"But much better now that you're here." Everybody now: Awwwwwwwwww. Isn't he sweet?

"Liar. I'm just making it worse, aren't I? I'm notorious for giving people headaches."

"Nah, yeh aren't. Fer the record, the chocolate actually made it a little better. Now I see we you girls love it so much." I laughed as he hugged me closer and I snuggled up against him. The sun was shining through the trees and warming the otherwise slightly chilly morning, but I much preferred to be snuggled close to Blink.

"Sure, we'll go with that." He laughed a little and kissed the top of my head.

"Even if yeh do make my head hurt, I'd much rather have yeh here than anywhere else." Ok, having heard this, what would you do? Would you answer with 'Oh, thanks. Now, why do you wear that eye patch?' Of course not! I already felt like a bad girlfriend-and person in general-for not trusting him and for making his headache worse. No, I was quite content to just sit there with his head laying against mine, watching the activity in the streets. "Any chance yeh wanna lone me some spy money so I can pay my rent?" Blink spent too much and always came up with just enough. Not selling for a day would really put him behind.

"Absolutely. And don't you dare even consider paying me back." I took three cents from my pocket and placed it in his palm. He put it in his own pocket and then reached over and grabbed my hand. Lik I said, he had moments when he was the sweetest guy in the world. This was definately one of them. When I heard a strange noise, I didn't pay much attention to it. However, as I realized it was coming from very near by, I sat up and looked around.

"What's the matter?" Blink sat up as well.

"Do you hear that?" He listened for a second before nodding. My ears had picked it up sooner because that's what they were trained to do. "What is it?" I swear, it was a noise unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Like a real slow creak, almost like rubbing rusty nails together. Blink stood and looke up.

"Shadow. Very slowly, go over and get off the fire escape. Don't move fast." I followed his eye and saw what was causing the noise. The very old fire escape was slowly pulling away from the building. A sudden small drop assured it.

"No way. You go. I can hold on and all that if it does fall. You're injured, go. I'll stand here to balance it." He didn't try to argue. He wasn't dumb, he knew we couldn't take that much time, and he knew I was right. If the thing did fall before I got down, I could hold onto the wall for at least a little while. He gave me a quick kiss and moved slowly toward the stairs, holding onto my hand for as long as he could. It seemed like forever that I stood there, pressed against the wall, trying to will myself into being heavier than Blink so the entire structure wouldn't collapse on him. All the while, I could hear the sound of the supports pulling free and could feel the slow slipping of the metal platform I stood on.

"Alright, I'm down. Come on!" Finally. I switched my mind set to being as light as possible and started slowly down the stairs. I was at the next landing when there came a much more distinct drop. I clung to the railing and almmost closed my eyes. Half way down the next set of stairs, one side of the fire escape completely gave out. I was very tempted to jump, but I was still two stories up. "Almost there. Be careful." Liar. I was most certainly not almost there. Oh well, he was just trying to be encouraging. I was on the next landing, just two more sets of stairs to go. Halfway done, almost there. I stepped onto the very next step and that sound I had heard at the top was sudddenly not as slow and was suddenly very loud. The entire structure pulled free of the building. I screamed. The very last thing I could remember hearing was Blink's voice over the crunching metal. "Shadow!" The ground was still far away, but I was surrounded by metal. Pain in my arm, pain in both legs, pain pretty much everywhere. And something I don't think I've ever felt before. Terror. Bling terror. The only thing I had that kept my mind in place was Blink's voice screaming my name over and over again. I couldn't even see him. Just his voice. I tried to make myself as small as possible. And that's all I could remember, pain, terror, and Blink's voice. Then nothing.


	6. I am Bad With Timing

ok, not ti make anyone feel bad or anything, but xoborogirlxo, you are one of my favorite people ever(sorry bethy) your reviews absolutely make my day. why? because i can usually take all the other reviews i get for that chapter, combine them, and yours is still longer. it makes my day. take note everyone!

Disclaimer: believe it or not, i have not inherited newsies in the time since my last chapter was posted. im working on that though.

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The first think I was aware of when I woke up was pain. Lots of it. I hadn't opened my eyes or moved at all, but everything hurt, and I couldn't remember why. Why? I concentrated on regaining control of my brain. I had to use my spy intelligence and stuff. Feel past the pain, I'd done it before. Not on this large a scale, but I'd done it before. I ignored how much everything hurt and tried to gather where I might be without opening my eyes. I could feel something soft under me, I was definitely in a bed. I also felt cold. But not cold as in the room was chilly, there was just concentrated cold on certain parts of me. My head, my right fore arm, my left leg, my left wrist. Everything else felt fairly warm. I wasn't in a hospital, I knew that. The smell of the air wasn't nearly clean enough for this to be a hospital. I think that's why I never liked hospitals. They smelled far too clean, something a street rat like myself wasn't used to or comfortable with. Alright, two senses had been used. Touch and smell. I wasn't going to try to taste anything, although I moved my tounge a little in my mouth and tasted blood. I'd save sight for last. That left hearing, my strongest sense. The first thing I heard was something most people probably wouldn't have picked up on. It was the quiet sound of rain tapping against windows. From outside, the faint sound of people shouting and horse hooves against the streets. I concentrated on the sounds inside. Fairly close to me, people were playing cards. I heard them hitting the table, I heard money being moved. I heard the final person lay down their cards(there's a certain way the last person lays them down. There's pride in it, you can hear it, I swear) and the money being dragged across the table. It was being pulled away from where I was. I tried to roll over, but that amounted to nothing more thana sort of half hearted flop. Everything hurt too much, so I stayed on my back and kept listening. A chair was pushed across the floor and I heard someone walking toward me. They sat near my bed, I assume in a chair(but you never know). My senses shifted back to touch as I felt warmth in my right hand. Not just any warmth, the warmth that comes from someone taking your hand. And then I heard a whisper. I assumed it was whoever had sat down and then taken my hand. They were whispering very quietly, I don't think anyone else in the room could hear them. If I wasn't as amazingly talented as I was, I wouldn't have been able to(I know, I'm so modest). There was the rain, the chatter of the room, and the card game competing with it. But somehow that whisper rose above everything else. 

"...I'm going to just keep talking to you until you wake up. I know you're sore, so am I. Maybe not for quite the same reason, but you get the idea. I swear Shadow, just open your eyes and recognize me and I'll be the happiest newsie in New York." I opened my eyes and saw Kid Blink sitting over me(yeah, big shock there, I know).

"So I don't have to bring you any more chocolate?" He smiled and shook his head. I felt his hand squeeze mine a little tighter. It hurt a little, but I didn't mind. I realized what the cold was when I swept a gaze across the room and myself. It was ice. I appreciated that. Pretty sure I would have felt more pain ifit wasn'tthere.

"How do you feel?"

"Wonderful, think I'll go for a swim in the Hudson."

"I'm just trying to be helpful my sweet. Don't be sarcastic with me." He touched the tip of my nose gently as he said 'my sweet.' Alright, I know we did this in the last chapter, but everybody: awwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

"I know. Sorry. But honestly? I feel like hell. Remind me what happened and how long I've been out."

"You don't remember what happened?" I thought for a minute.

"Yes. The fire escape collapsed. With me on it." He nodded. "Anything I should remember after it falling?"

"Sort of." I thought some more and then shook my head a very little. "We pulled you out of the mess and everything and had you out on the lawn. I was about to pick you up to carry you inside and you woke up for a few minutes." I thought as hard as I could with the severe headache I had. I did remember.

_Everything hurt. I could barely feel the sun on my face through the ripping pain. I opened my eyes and a shadow came in front of the sun. I looked up and saw Blink. He reached down and lifted me as gently as he could. With everything I had, I reached up and held around his neck._

_"You're gonna be OK. I promise, I won't let anything happen to you." I lifted my head from where it had been resting against his chest. He was looking down at me and there were tears stains on his face. I also caught a glimpse of my own arms. They were cut. No, not cut, shredded. There were bloodstains all over my shirt and my skin. I started crying. The only thing that somehow kept me from completely losing it was looking down at Blink's hands and arms and seeing them cut up and bleeding, not nearly as much as mine, but still. Don't ask me how that comforted me, but it did. That kept me from losing it, but I was still crying quite a bit. Everything hurt so much. I hugged him as much as my now weak and sore arms would allow. "Don't cry baby. You'll be alright." I looked up at him and met his eye. He was crying too._

_"Do you promise?" That was all I could say. I'm sure I sounded like a four year old, but that's all I could say._

_"With everything I am."_

"I do remember." I was crying again. Not as much as I had been before, but still. "Thank you." I raised my left arm and he bent over and let me hug him. "Thank you so much," I whispered. He kissed my cheek and sat back up.

"So you remember all that?"

"Everything I was concious for." He smiled a little. Like the first night a really talked to him, it was a small smile, but you could tell it was just a mini version of the smile he usually wore. "What exactly happened that I don't remember?" He sighed and played with my fingers on the hand he was holding a little before answering.

"Well, the entire fire escape came down when you were almost down. God Shadow, it was the scariest thing. The sound of crunching metal and I couldn't do anything but listento you scream. And then you stopped, and that really scared me. Some of the others heard and were over before everything settled. We ran in, I swear, I didn't even think. I just ran in and started digging through everything. I got cut up, but I didn't even notice." We both glanced at his arms that were bandaged in some places and scabbed over in others. "Dutchy found yeh and we all ran over. It took way longer than I wanted it to, cause we didn't want anything to collapse on you or anything. And it was so sunny, so most of the metal was pretty hot." I ran my finger tips over his and could tell they were burned or rubbed raw. I couldn't really tell which. "We were so afraid we were gonna hurt you that it took a good two hours to get you out. That's when you woke up and I carried you inside. We brought you up here and got ice and everything. I actually sat next to you for a real long time before they made me go eat lunch."

"Good. The last thing Kloppman and them would need was you to pass out again. I really apprciate it, thanks."

"You really appriciate it? You make me feel like some random guy that just showed up and helped out!" I had to smile.

"Fine. Gimme a kiss." He leaned down and kissed me as gnetly as he could manage, seeing as I'm pretty sure my lip had been split open at some point. That's ok, it's the thought that counts. All of a sudden, he sat up, looking rather excited.

"Stay there." Like I had a choice. "I have something for you." He left and I did something really stupid. I sat up. Ho. Ly. Crap. Bad descision. It hurt. A lot. I closed my eyes and a few tears seeped out from under them.

"Yeh OK dere Shadow?" Racetrack yelled from his poker game. I turned to see they had paused to check on me as I sat up. I gave them the best glare I could manage.

"Oh yes, wonderful. Just dandy." They laughed and returned to their game. I smiled. They knew I was kidding, just like they knew I was kidding when I flipped them off in the alley. Blink came back in, cradeling something in his hands. He sat on the chair beside my bed and looked up at me.

"It's about midnight now. For a good two hours, when I wouldn't leave your side, I made this." He opened his hands and I gasped. Sitting there on his palm was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.

"Oh Blink. It's beautiful."

"Like you." I smiled and took the tiny dragon sculpture from him. I studied it carefully. It was hand made from twisted metal. "Do you realize what it's made of?" I shook my head. "The fire escape. I got a couple pieces of it and made that." I held a hand to my mouth(that hurt too). He was right. I looked closer and saw the worn metal twisted delicately. For eyes there were two small stones and it was breathing fire that I realized was a piece of blood stained fabric. I didn't know what to say(which isn't a very common occurance for me). I looked up and met his eye. It registered in my brain that one of my eyes stared deep into his, but the other was looking at his eye patch. Talk about timing. But can you really expect me to ask now? I mean, come on. Here he is, giving me the most beautiful gift I've probably ever gotten and probably will ever get. I'm a wreck and would be worse if it wasn't for him. Now was not the time. Was there a time to ask? Like, a good time I mean. I was pretty sure at that point that every time I thought of it, it would be inconvinient and terribly rude. I placed the tiny dragon on a table by my bed that also held a good number of bloodstained rags. Blink placed a hand behind my neck and helped me lay down without hurting myself too badly. "Good night Shadow."

"Good night." Oh, but neither well-wishing had any effect. I slept and all, yes, but I was haunted by terrible-and slightly bizare- dreams.

_I was sitting in Brooklyn, talking to Jo. We started talking about Kid Blink and his eye patch.  
"Oh, I know why he wears it!"she said cheerfully, "heshowed me on our date yesterday. And after that he kissed me. He really likes me you know, I think we're going to get married"_

_I was walking withBlink on a beach(I'm not quite sure where it came from, but it was a beach). Suddenly, a huge sea monster rose out of the water and grabbed me.  
"Blink! Help!" He just laughed and pulled off his eye patch. Sea monster eggs fell out of a hole in his head, hatched, and started trying to eat me._

_Blink and I were sitting in Irving Hall. He removed his eye patch, took a diamond ring from a hole in his head and asked my to marry him._

_I was riding a horse through the plains, Indians chasing me. They surrounded me and shot an arrow through my eye. It almost hit my brain._

_Blink and I were walking along a street in New York and his eye patch fell off. He grabbed it and tried to replace it, but not before I saw a giant roach antena. And Suep was standing there laughing her head off and yelling "I told you I'd seen it!"_

_A young Kid Blink sttod on a dock in Brooklyn in fornt of a young version of a girl named Silver Shot(another of the beloved Brooklyn Gals). She was shorter than him, and had a sling shot sticking out from her back pocket. Around her neck was anecklance with a silver dog charm on it. She held a realdog on a short leash beside her.  
"What do you have to offer me for this dog's life?"  
"I don't have anything Silva, please just give him back." She cackled evily. "I'll do anything, just name it."  
"Would you let me cut out your eye to add to my collection?" He nodded and she pulled from her pocket a knife and an eye patch. She handed him the dog's leash then grabbed him by the hair and cut his eye out. Then she tied the eye patch over it carelessly, his eyeball clenched in her hand. She thrust it above her head, laughing hysterically while lightning flashed in the background and Kid Blink hugged his dog, crying from one eye and bleeding from the other._

I sat up abruptly. It hurt(noticing a theme here?). Now, I had always gotten along fairly well with Silver Shot and couldn't imagine why she starred in my dream as an evil maniac who cut Blink's eye out. I rested my head on my hands. This was getting ridiculous. I decided that the very next time I saw Blink, I would ask him before either of us had the chance to make it into a tender moment where I'd feel bad about asking. That was that.

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wow. i honestly dont need mental help. really. i have no idea where those dreams came from but...yeah. dont call the men in white on me.. please. i wont update if you do.


	7. I am A Mental Case

im sorry. xobrorgirlxo may be my favorite reviewer, but bethy is without a doubt my favorite person on the face of the earth, whom i couldnt live without. now that we have that cleared up...

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I didn't go back to sleep that night. I just sat there, my achiching head in my shredded hands. I couldn't sleep, I'd have more crazy dreams. I can't say why, but what I wanted to do right now was go running. I ran a lot, it kept me in shape and all that jazz. So let's see, stay in bed feeling like hell and wanting to pull my brain out of my head and clobber it, or go running, even if it meant risking my health. It wasn't a tough choice for me. I reached under the bed and pulled out a bag I kept in Manhattan. Inside I had a spy costume, so I didn't have to go back to Brooklyn if it was too out of the way. I changed and placed the mask very carefully over my bruised and bloody face. I slipped as quietly as I could out of the room and then into the chilly 3-in-the-morning air. It felt really good, seeing as my legs were already hurting me. You have to understand something. I am not a mental case, despite what my actions might suggest. I can't stay inside like that. I can't just lay there, waiting for people to take care of me. I am not, never was, and will never allow myself to be an invalid, which was exactly how I felt when I was laying there. I had to get out, so I did. I turned toward Brooklyn and fell into a slow jog. Alright, let's see if you remember this theme from last chapter: it hurt. Jogging was out of the question. Instead, I walked to the beginning of the Brooklyn Bridge. I slipped onto the dark docks, trying not to think about the dream that had taken place there(the one where Silver Shot was insane and all. Wait, that's all the time. The one where she cut Kid Blink's eye out). I kicked my worn leather boots off and let my feet dangle into the disgusting water of the Hudson. How did Spot and them swim in this crap? I mean, yeah, I'd done it, but only when I'd been pushed in or otherwise forced to. 

"No. I will not," I said alound to my brain. Why? Because it was suggesting something utterly ridiculous. It was hinting that it could be fun to take a quick dip in the vat of death-infested toxic waste that my feet were currently churning as I kicked them. I looked up with a sigh. I had to be crazy. Maybe I was a mental case, one can't real judge themself on that degree, can they? I mean, if you're a mental case, it's because someone else pointed it out. You don't just wake up and say: 'You know, I think I am certifiabley insane.' Anyways. Looking around the dark dock, I spotted a fairly long rope about as thick as my thumb. "I'm crazy," I told myself as I tied one end of the rope around my waist and the other to a pole on the dock(I wasn't crazy enough to let myself get swept down this polluted death trap). "I'm a mental case, I don't know why I doubted it." I kept my mask on. You never know when someone would show up and I couldn't run the risk of being identified. Throwing common sense to the wind(or maybe just farther down the Hudson, there really wasn't any wind), I held my breath and slid off the edge of the dock. If I hadn't been in this evil river as much as I had, I would have gasped and filled my lungs with the foul liquid all around me. It was freezing. The grimy water stung my cuts, but the cold felt so good. It wasn't refreshing. Far from it. But it had the same effect as the ice had. Except instead of being in just one place, it was all over. And because it was a river and the water was moving, it didn't get warm or anything. It felt so good. I probably would have fallen asleep if I hadn't been afraid rats from the dock would climb down my rope and eat me alive. You see, I was in the dirty water, making me dirty, and rats eat dirty things. So I was in danger here.

"What the hell?" I heard someone say from the dock. They were holding a lantern and studying the rope I had tied to the pole. They didn't see my boots. Good. I moved as silently as I could over to the dock and reached up and grabbed them. The idiot looking at the rope didn't even see me. I pulled a small knife from a pocket in my right boot and cut the rope. Holding my practically antique leather boots above the water, I moved carefully downstream. My shoulders were above the water, but that was about it, my bare feet barely getting a grip on the disgusting bottom. Suddenly, the water around me was illuminated. I snapped around to see the man on the dock looking right at me. Thank goodness I still had my mask on. "Hey you! What're you up to?" Of course. He thought I was doing something suspicious. What else would a masked teenager be doing at the docks at three thirty in the morning? I actually was going to say something, but I stepped into a strong current and lost my footing at the same time. I had time to gasp a breath before falling beneath the murky water. That guy was gonna come after me, I knew it. I had to get out of there. My boots were already wet. I pushed off and swam as far as I could and did something that I had to but really didn't want to do. I opened my eyes. Through the grimy water, I managed to find a bush and pulled myself behind it. I surfaced, but didn't allow a sharp intake of breath, just a slow inhale. I was the greatest spy in New York, I wouldn't be caught this easily. I tossed my boots onto the shore and then pulled myself up and slipped them onto my feet.

"I see you!" Crap. It was freaky dock guy. He was after me. Now I had to run. I forced myself to sprint to the nearest building. I hesitated at the base of the fire escape(I suddenly had a quite rational fear of those things). I could hear his footsteps echoing beind me and willed myself up. Once I was on the roof, I ran across to where there was one of those clothes lines with a pulley on it, so you could share it between both buildings. I waited until I heard the rattling of someone climbing the fire escape to pull off my thick fabric belt and loop it over the clothes line. Without letting myself think twice, I lept off the building and went flying through the air. Luckily, it wasn't too far to the next roof top. Even so, I had to really struggle to get ahold of the pole that held the other end of the clothesline. This hurt a lot too. I pulled myself onto the roof and removed the knife out of my boot again. Just as the guy following me was contemplating repeating my stunt, I cut the clothesline. I'd have to get them a new one. I proudly tied my belt back in place and headed home.

I just barely managed to drag myself up the stairs and into my bed. I would NOT being doing this again for a very long time. I collapsed onto my bed and winced, because collapsing was quite painful when one is bruised all over. I stretched out on my bed very slowly and very carefully. I removed my mask and stuck it in my pillow case and pulled a thin blanket over me. I didn't have the strength-or will-to change out of my soggy black costume, but at least no one would recognize me as The Shadow if they saw me. My career would take a plunge from all this, but at least no one would come looking for me or anything. Why? Because no one ever came to me, I came to them. So that would be fine. I closed my eyes and permitted myself to drift off to sleep.

It seemed like approximately thirty seconds later when I felt sunlight on my face. Curse those boys and their early wake up. I rolled over-slowly-and put my pillow over my head. I could feel the dampness from my mask against my face, but I didn't particularly care. I heard muffled footsteps approaching and held the pillow more firmly over my head(which was probably a poor decsision on my part-it hurt). Whoever was approching me stopped and I heard them laugh. That's when I knew who it was. His laugh was unmistakeable. It was loud and warm and wonderful. Kid Blink grabbed the sides of my pillow and pulled it from my grip so that I had to squeeze my eyes shut to avoid the sun.

"You're hair's wet," he said, lifting a strand of my tangled, curly, damp, and terribly stinky black hair. I opened my eyes and peered up at him.

"Yeah, I know. Point?" He dropped the pillow next to me.

"Your eyes are all red and bloodshot too." He suddenly looked very worried. "Are you sick?"

"No," I whispered, avoiding his eyes. "Where is everybody?"

"They all left to sell. My head's still bothering me and I wanted to stay with you. Now what's up?" He took my hand. Dear lord, he thought I was seriously sick! I pushed back the rather damp blanket and sat up to reveal my spt clothing, still soggy and covered in goo from the Hudson River. I still had my boots on too. Oops. Blink's gaze turned from worried to stern. "What did you do?"

"I sort of went for a swim in the Hudson." He was about to say something when a small sob escaped me. Wait a minute. What is this? Why do I keep crying? But I couldn't help it. I couldn't stand the thought of him being mad at me. "Don't be mad, please. I couldn't stand being up here all the time! I couldn't stand being on bed rest. I'm not the kind of person who can just sit here and be taken care of." He pulled me into his arms and let m lean on his shoulder. He stroked my disgusting hair, and I could tell he was trying to avoid the tangles in it.

"I know baby, I know. That's what I love about you, and you know it." I nodded against his shoulder. He must have really lived me, cause he turned and kissed the top of my head, despite the fact it was probably the most disgusting thing in the room at the time(unless Race still had that really old cigar butt sitting under his bed). After a minute I lifted my head off his shoulder and saw a spot of blood left on his shirt. "Come here." He reached out and wipe some blood off my face.

"Why?"

"You reopened one of your scabs, it's bleeding."

"I know. So what?"

"Because I'm a vampire and I want to drink your blood!" He reached out again and tried to grab my arm. Giggling, I backed away with a squeal.

"Fine," he laughed, "let yourself bleed. I don't care." I moved closer to him.

"Liar." He pulled me into his lap and kissed the top of my head again. I leaned against him, despite the fact that I would more than likely get more blood on him.

"I know." He inhaled deeply, he's told me he liked the smell of my hair(like night air, I always thought). Well, he likes how it normally smells. I guess the guys in Brooklyn can get away with the smell of river water more esily since they don't have quite as much hair to carry the stench. I, on the other hand, had almost waist length, thick hair. "You smell chicky. Go clean yourself."

"Only if I can get out of this building afterwards."

"I'll go for a walk with you as soon as you no longer smell like river water."

"Deal." Perfect. I could ask him about the eye patch then. And I would not, I repeat, would NOT let myself get distracted. By anything.


	8. I am Finally Asking

Disclaimer: I don't own it. You know, I know, do I really have to keep saying that?

long chapter. but its good. another appearence by some of the brooklyn gals

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The somewhat warmish water in thebath felt almost as good as the river had. But the shower had a big advantage. It was cleaning me, instead of making me smell of filth. I poured some shampoo over my head(from my own personal stock, I stole it from a finishing school) and massaged it in. There were some cuts and bruises on my head, but I worked around them. Then came the hard part. Trying to rinse the suds out of my thick hair without getting anything in my eyes. Don't ask me why, but I had this terrible fear of getting soap in my eyes. After a fair amount of effort, my hair was rinsed. I washed the rest of me carefully, scrubbing off as much dried blood as I could. When I felt sufficiently free of river scum, I stepped out of the small tub and slipped into dry clothes. They weren't exactly clean. I was a newsie, we never had truly clean clothes, but they worked. I went back out into the bunk room and didn't see Kid Blink, so I set to work gettting some of the tangles out of my hair. I was just about finished when he came up and grabbed me from behind. I let out a squeak of surprise. 

"You squeaked," he laughed.

"I have a reason. You scared me."

"Oh, I'm so-rry." His voise was oozing with sarcasm and he rolled his eyes(see previous commments on use of the word "eyes"). "I thought your super duper spy senses would detect me long before I got the chance."

"I was busy." I held up a strand of hair. He just laughed. "Now, I believe you promised me a walk."

"That I did. Let's go." He offered his arm in a most gentlemanly manner, I slid my arm through it, and we set out. The perfect posture lasted maybe 10 seconds once we were out the door. Then we passed an older couple walking like that(in a not mocking way) and we cracked up. We resumed walking, simply holding hands.

"Shadow!" I turned at the sound of my name and immediatly tryed to hide behind Blink. Coming towards us was a group of the Brooklyn Gals. "You ok?"

"Yeah, sorry, I uhhh...tripped." I looked up at Blink with a 'please-get-us-out-of-here' look. He just shrugged.

"Well, we need to talk to you." It was Suep who was talking. Unwillingly, I stepped away from Blink and followed them off the path. "We came up with more solutions to your," she glanced up and Blink who had his back to us, "problem." Oh dear. Suep, Brunette, Jo, Silva Shot, and a girl named Pheonix were standing around me, the most serious looks imaginable on their faces. I scooted a llittle farther from Silva, remembering my dream. "We're pretty sure that one of us has the right answer."

"I'll go first," Brunette said proudly, "My theory is that he used to live at the train yard. It hadn't rained for a very long time, and he was young, so he decided to do a rain dance." This was ridiculous already. "Well, his eyes were closed and he danced onto the train tracks." Her voice rose and she began gesturing wildly. "Suddenly, a whistle blew!"

"Woooo woooo!"

"He opened his eyes to see a train coming right at him! But the rain dance had worked, and the sky was clouding over! The train's light switched on so the driver could see the small boy in the tracks! He sheilded his eyes and dove to the side, but he wasn't fast enough!" The others seemed to be holding their breath, waiting to hear what she would say next. She flipped some hair off of her shoulder before continuing in a low, dramatic voice. "Before he had his eyes shielded, the light blinded one of them. He wears the eye patch to cover the all white eye that had the color burned right out of it." There was a pause before Pheonix started. She had reddish hair and green eyes that sparkled as she began.

"Before he became a newsie, he lived with his family. His father was a compulsive gambler, but his mother took care of him when his father left to play cards. But one day, she dissapeared. She just went to buy some lettuce, and never came back. Well, his father had no choise but to bring him along to go gambling. He found some other kids in the same situation and they started up a game of Go Fish. Well, being raised by gamblers, they all bet money. In the fourth game, he ran out of money, but he was so sure he was going to win. He bet," dramatic pause. I was tempted to roll my eyes, but didn't. "his own eye. It was just a joke, you know? He was so sure he was going to win. But he didn't. And the kid who did win wanted his reward, so he pulled out his eye with his bare hands." Jo was the next to speak. I could tell from the traces of a smile on her face that she wasn't serious though, she was just playing along.

"Well, a long time ago, him and Mush and Jack were sitting around and someone said they wanted to know what would happen if you sneezed with your eyes open. He was the only brave enough to take the challenge. He sneezed, but he could only keep one eye open." She gave her own dramatic pause, but I could tell it was just to keep herself from laughing. She continued in a mock dramatic tone. "His eye exploded right out of his head!" Silva Shot clapped. Suep was next.

"Yeah yeah Jo, whatever. I don't know why you even came along if you can't take this seriously." Jo rolled her eyes. "Now, he used to be a leper." That was it. It took everything I had not to crack up right there. I don't even know how I did it. "It was horrible, but something happened. No one knows how, but he was miraculously cured before he could lose anything but his eye and his third arm."

"His third arm?" Silva asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah. He had three arms, but the leperacy made one fall off."

"You wanna know da real reason?" Everyone looked at Silva expectantly. However, when she continued, her voice was so full of sarcasm, Blink could probably even tell she was kidding, and he wasn't even listening. "Years ago, I stole his dog." She was acting like she was really into the conversation, grey-green eyes wide. If it didn't sound so eerily familiar, I probably would have been laughing. "I told him all he had to do was bring as much money he could find down to the dock on a dark, stormy night. Well, he came, but he didn't have any money, so I cut out his eye to add to my collection." That was it. That pushed me over the edge.

"Guys, thanks for trying to help, but go away." They shrugged and walked off. I went back over to Blink and we started walking again. I was about to go insane from what Silver had just said. I had to ask him, right now. "Blink?" He turned and looked at me. "Did you ever have a dog?"

"Nope. Never liked dogs much. I think I'm allergic to them." Ok, so that was just a coincidence. Good. He gave a small smile and took my hand and we continued through Central Park. I must have been staring at the ground or something because after a little while, Blink said: "Something's bothering you."

"I know." In case you hadn't noticed, that's my response whenever I don't know what to say.

"Care to tell me what?"

"You really want to know?" I glanced up at him. He just nodded. "Honestly, you."

"Me? I'm bothering you?" I nodded. "I don' understand." He sounded quite upset, and that 'I'm the worst girlfriend in the world' feeling kicked in again.

"I said that wrong. Not you." I sighed. "I don't know how to say this." We were passing a bench in the park and he stopped and gently pulled me down next to him.

"Then jus tell me." I looked up and saw how upset he looked. Oh god! He thought I was breaking up with him! I took his hand and kissed it.

"God, Blink, don't get the wrong idea of this! I'm probably making it sound like much bigger a deal than it should be, aren't I?"

"I dunno, yeh haven't told me what it is yet." Even as he said it, I could see relife in his eye. "Yeh know yeh can ask me anythin, Shadow, jus ask."

"This is going to sound so stupid," I said with a sigh. I looked up at the trees for a second before speaking again. "When you were unconcious after hitting your head at Medda's, I noticed something. Well, not noticed it. I started thinking about it more. About your eye patch. Mush told me you've worn it ever since he's known you, and he's the one who's known you the longest."

"You wanna know why I wear the eye patch?" He reached up to remove it, but at the last second, I grabbed his arm.

"You have to understand all of this. You know I'm completely detail obsessed. So, I was thinking about this. I've trusted you with absolutely everything, and I told myself that if it was important you'd tell me. But then there was this other side of me, I don't even know where it came from, saying that you didn't trust me enough to tell me. That it was some super secret thing or something." He lowered his hand and held mine. I was starting to cry. Damn female emotionalism. "It drove me crazy. Ask Spot, he found me on the Brooklyn Bridge. If you had seen, you'd think I had just been shot or something! I was breathing hard and my knees were weak and everything. I don't know what it was! I just lost it!" He hugged me andI leaned my back against him. Surprisingly, it was much easier to say all this with his arms around my waist and his chin on myshoulder and his hands holding mine. "And then there were all these ridiculous ideas! That you were a jewel theif, or bitten by a spider, or a cowboy, or part bug, or that you traded it to save your dog."

"Part bug?"

"Yeah, that was Suep. The first time. And then I had these crazy dreams. One where you were going out with Jo, and you told her, but I didn't know. And one where a sea monster attacked me and you had all these sea monster eggs in a hole in your head. And then one where you pulled a diamond ring out from under the patch and proposed to me. And then one where Silver Shot cut it out so you could have your dog back."

"What?" I looked up at him to see him staring down at me like I was crazy.

"I don't know! And then you were a leper, blinded by a train light, bet it in a game of Go Fish, tried to sneeze with you eye open. It was ridiculous!"

"You wanna know the real reason?" I nodded. "Well, I guess it does have a bit of a story to it. And it has nothing to do with pretty much any of that stuff." I sighed. Thank God.


	9. I am Not A Bad Girlfriend

ok. im pretty sure its just gonna be this chapter and then an epilogue. i THINK

Disclaimer: why do I keep adding this? You know what I'm gonna say! If you dont, read the last chapter.

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So, where were we? I remember. Kid Blink and I were sitting in the park. I was sitting in front of him, leaning back against him. He had his chin on my shoulder, arms around my waist, and was holding my hands. And he was about to tell me why he wore his eye patch. Now, I dunno, maybe it doesn't matter to you as much as it mattered, and still does in a way matter to me. I trusted him so much, and this was probably the biggest thing he had ever told me. I said this before, and I'll say it again. I know this term is one that should be used very carefully and selectively, but according to the meaning I know, I loved him. Hey, it feels pretty good to say that. I loved him. But remember, this was only in the sense of the word that comes to a sixteen year old girl. Maybe I didn't actually. Maybe I only thought I did because I thought I understood what it meant. Anyways. I'm mostly saying all this because I know you're only reading this to find out why he wears the eye patch. 

And now you're waiting for me to get on with it already. But I'm not going to until you understand something. I suddenly didn't want to know anymore. I didn't want to know because sitting there, he was about to show me. And that's all I needed. I needed to know that he would tell me if I needed to know. And that should be enough for you too. Except maybe all of you don't love him(I don't see why not! He's the most wonderful guy ever!). So I guess I'll have to tell you the conversation that followed. Fine.

"I lived with my parents for awhile," Blink began. He held me a little tighter as he told about his past. He'd told me before, but somehow this was different. "Until my parents started arguing every night. I was around six, and I just ran away one night. Never went back, obviously, and I never wanted to. I was jus livin on the streets, but dat winter I got real sick. A girl who was out shoppin found me in an alley an brought me to a hospital. I never really met her properly or anythin, but dey told me she payed fer my stay and everythin." He sighed and I turned and kissed him on the cheek. It gave him some sort of reencouragement, cause he continued. "Now, when I say I was real sick, I mean _real _sick. They didn think I'd live. Well, obviously, I did. Cept my eyes got messed up. I completely lost sight in one of em, an the other one was messed up for awhile."

"So yer just blind in that eye? An so yeh wear the patch?"

"Well, sort of. I did start wearing it then, but later something else happened." His voice faded a little and I turned to face him again. A tear was gathering in the corner of his eye. I reached up and gently wiped it away. "Sorry. It's jus tough ta remember sometimes."

"I know. If you don't want to tell me any more, you don't have to."

"No, I want yeh ta know." He hugged me closer and I leaned against his chest. "Even if yeh hadn't asked, I really want yeh ta know. I jus haven't talked about it in a long time, maybe not ever. You may be da only person I've ever told."

"Thanks. Go on."

"Alright, so I'm a seven year old kid livin on da street, blind in one eye. I actually got the patch from this traveling street act. They were pirates, an" He laughed a little and I had to smile. "Well, dis one guy had an eye patch, an I got this crazy idea in my head dat it jus wasn't fair. I mean, I couldn't see out of one eye, an dat wasn't my choice, an here was dis guy who covered up his probably perfectly normal eye. So I kinda...attacked him an stole da patch." I laughed. I had always imagined him as a fairly well mannered kid, and I just couldn't picture him attacking a performing pirate. "So now I had da patch. Dat's when I met Mush and Race and Jack an all dem an became a newsie. Dey gave me a new name, I don even really remember what it was before. Anyways. I had da patch, but just because I was blind. Den somethin else happened so dat I really needed it.  
Well, I never found who da woman was dat payed fer me ta be in da hospital, so I developed a sense of gratitude to pretty much any woman or even younger girls. Cause I just never knew if she might be the one who helped me out. So one day I'm walkin along an I see dese three older guys, I think they were newsies, I dunno, but they were bothering this girl. They pushed her into an alley and no one seemed to notice. But I did. I followed em, waiting fer a chance ta help. I saw a cop walkin by an I whistled ta get his attention." He suddenly sat up straighter and pushed me up. "Cover yer ears."

"Why?"

"Trust me." I covered my ears and Blink put his thumb and middle finger of his left hand in his mouth and whistled. Really, really loud. Some people walking by turnred to look at him. "Like dat."

"An the cop heard yeh?"

"Yeah. He came after da guys an caught one of em, but the other two managed ta get away. The girl was thanking me an the cop was telling me I did the right thing an all, I didn even think about what those other two guys might do. They didn't do anything fer a good two years. So I was nine or ten anI waswalkin home from Medda's one night. I had stayed a little later den da others, cause I wanted to talk ta one a da new show girls." He laughed a little, but his face fell. I leaned back against his shoulder and took his hand. I knew it was easier to say difficult things when there was someone right there."I took our normal shortcut through one a da alleys an dere dey were. Da two of em caught me an started soakin me. I guess I was too easy ta find, with da patch an all. Well, dey beat me pretty bad. I can't even remember all of it, just-" He was shaking. I sat up straight and let him lean on my shoulder for a second. He straightened up and gently pulled me back down against him. I understood how much of a difference it made to be able to feel someone against you, to feel their warmth, their heart beat, the steadiness of their breathing. It made it easier to cope with some memories. "I can remember bein on my knees. I could taste blood in my mouth, from my nose an lips. An I was holdin my wrist, cause dey'd pushed my against da wall an I tried ta stop myself." He took a deep breath. "An den da shorter one pulled out a knife. An one of em said-I don't even know which one, I couldn tell, my head was spinning-he said 'yeh ain't a pirate, so why yeh got an eye patch?' An he pulled it off. Course, it didn make any difference ta me, I couldn see from it anyways. Well, he kinda laughed an said 'Dat ain't no good. If yer gonna wear it, yeh needa reason.' So he started comin at me wid da knife. I could tell, he was gonna stab it right through me, but I grabbed his arm at da last second. I managed ta get my hand ta my mouth an whistle, but he came back down an slashed across my eye. An I mean, not just across my face, across my _eye_." I cringed at the thought. But now I knew. I hugged him tighter. "Medda an some a da others came out, but da guys gave me a good kick in da head an I blacked out. I woke up dere da next mornin in a pool of blood, my entire face hurt like hell, an da whole left half a my face was swollen up, plus a lump on my head where dey kicked me. But I just grabbed my eyepatch an went back ta da lodgin house. I washed my face an went ta bed. When everybody got back , I jus told em I got in a fight, no big deal." I looked up and saw tears in his eye. Knowing it would raise me some of the girlfriend deceny scale, I wiped them away.

"I'm sorry."

"Hey, what's done is done. It don hurt now." He poked at the patch. "Jus da memory does a little." We sat there in silence for a long time. And when I say a long time, I really mean a long time. I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I remember, Blink was carrying me back to the lodging house. The sun was just starting to set.

"I can walk if it's easier. Unless of course you jus like carryin me." He smiled and dropped me to my feet. We walked the rest of the way without talking, just holding hands. We went upstairs when we got back and I started washing my river water soaked spy outfit. I'm not sure what Blink had been doing, but as I was ringing out my mask, he came in.

"I jus thought a somethin. I know how you are with yer not believin things an all-"

"I believe you!" He raised his eyebrows. "Well, since you know me so well, what would you do to make me believe you?"

"I would take off da eye patch." I set down the black fabric in my hand and walked over to him. I took his hand an then looked up at him.

"But you don't have to."

"Yeh say dat. But Shadow, I know you. Even now, yer startin ta doubt it. Even though yeh don want to. I know you. Unless you see something fer yerself, yeh don believe it. An yeh know I accept dat." He raised one of his hands(the one I wasn't holding) and pulled off the patch. The skin that was revieled was unnaturaly pale(obviously, it was always covered), but it seemed to fit. His eye was almost completely white, there was just a pale ring of light brown in the middle. However, across the ring was a sort of line. This is a first, but I really don't know how to decribe it that well. There was just this dark line all across his eye. Looking closer, I could see the faint scar on his skin too. I reached out and pushed his hair back in a nice, romantic sort of way. Then I ruined anything I may have set up bycovering his right eye.

"So, if I do this, yeh can't see me?" He was smiling.

"No, I can't." He waved an arm in front of him, purposely avoiding where he knew I was standing. "Where are you?" I stuck my tounge out and shook my head.

"Yeh can't tell what I'm doing right now?"

"Nope." I let go of his hand and waved in front of his face.

"How bout now?"

"Nope." I leaned forward and kissed him.

"Now?"

"Yeah, now I can tell." He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into another kiss. I took my hand off his eye and hugged around his neck. He leaned back. "Ha. Now I can see yeh." I laughed. "So waddaya think? On Halloween, I'll wear da patch over my other eye an we can walk around scarin little kids?" Now we were both laughing.

"No, I think you should lean over Race's bunk in the middle of the night, see if yeh can freak him out." We laughed for awhile. Have I told you how much I love the sound of Blink's laugh? Yeah, probably. Still smiling, he replaced the patch.

"So now yeh know. An next time yeh wanna know somethin, yer just gonna ask me, right?" I nodded. "An yer gonna know I trust you with everythin." I nodded. "An yer gonna buy me some more chocolate fer Christmas." I laughed.

"Nice try." Then again, maybe I would. It would definitely help get me out of my bad girlfriend mode. He hugged me closer and kissed the top of my head. You see why I love this guy? He's so nice about everything. And he told me. So now I knew.

* * *

A few notes:  
I don't know if that's really what would happen if someone cut you across the eye. I have no idea what would happen. Don't sure me or anything for misinforming you.  
There is going to be one more chapter. That's right, just one more.  
I'm thinking about writing a quick finishing chapter to Brooklyn Gals, cause it got taken down before I could finish. Your opinion?

That's all.


	10. Epilogue

last chapter. this is it, the end. but dont worry, i shall write more about Shadow! shes too much fun to just stop. so, a sequel will be up soon. i hope. if i can form a plot...

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It was about a week after I found out why Kid Blink wore his eye patch. I was back living in Brooklyn, not quite as sore from the whole fire escape incident anymore. I was sitting in my room, just adding the dragon Blink had made for me to my collection, when I heard a knock at the door. 

"Sorry, I'm not here."

"Very funny Shadow." It was Spot. I could recognize his voice(I could recognize anyone's voice). He opened the door and came in. He had to squint his eyes because my window faces west, so the sun shone in as it set. "It's important."

"Define important."

"A job offer."I raised my eye brows and flopped down on my bed.

"Step into my office," I said, gesturing to a wooden chair. Rolling his eyes, he sat down. I did this to him every time. "Whatcha got for me? Gimme all the details you have."

"Dunno how yer gonna like this, but...it's a girl from that high end finishing school. She's real pretty, long black hair, clear blue eyes, skin da color of-"

"Conlon! Details about the case yeh nimwit! Not the client!"

"Right, of course. Well, from what I've heard, she's hired yeh before. She's lookin fer information about Blink."

"Maria?" My jaw dropped. I thought I got rid of her!

"Yeah, dat's her name. Good luck." Without another word, he turned and left. I didn't have a choice. I changed into my black clothes and climbed out my fire escape and into the night air. I decided I'd stop by the Manhattan lodging house first. I climbed the new, roughly built fire escape and tapped on the window. Snipeshooter opened it.

"I'se lookin fer Kid Blink," I said, changing my voice so he wouldn't recognize me. He left the window and I moved so that I was against the wall and couldn't be seen from inside.

"Hello?" came Blink's voice from the window.

"Step outside." I must be really good, cause even he didn't recognize my voice. He stepped out. In a spilt second, I reached out from the shadows, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and pulled him over to me, catching him ina kiss. "Heya."

"Hi, listen. I've got a rather interesting client. Maria. Again." He looked confused. "Da girl I was working for when I first met you. Accroding to a very reliable source, she's lookin fer you again."

"Tell her I got a goil that'll soak her if she gets anywhere near me." I had to smile. "Have fun." He kissed the top of my head.

"Oh, I will." Laughing, he climbed back in the window and I headed off to see Maria.

Maria was waiting on her fire escape when I arrived. She looked somehow different from when I'd seen her last. She looked older, not as ditzy, she almost looked frightening(that was, if anything scared me). I didn't even get a chance to say anything before she started talking.

"You think I want you to find out about Kid Blink." I nodded. "Wrong." Good. I wouldn't have to soak her. "I'm looking for information about a boy who works at the racetrack. His name's Snap. He's very tall, has scruffy brown hair, and-"

"I know Snap. What's yer interest in him? Another crush?" Her face hardened, and I felt almost intimidated. She was a good deal taller than me and I had a feeling that if she caught me off gaurd she could chuck me off the fire escape.

"No. My interest isn't your business. Your business is getting me the information I need. I'm willing to pay you some ahead of time. How much you get afterward depends on what you can tell me." She handed me a handful of quarters. I stared. This was a lot for a down payment. "That's what it's worth to me. Be here tomorrow night with something good." She went back into her room, leaving me there with at least five dollars and my mind buzzing with what she'd said. I tucked the money into the small black leather bag that hung around my waist and vanished with the cool wind that rattled the metal stairs.

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im gonna write a sequel. read it!


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